Lobster wars pit Maine against Canada

Lobsters, lobsters everywhere. Too many, in fact. A glut of the shellfish in Maine has led to low prices across the border in Canada. (Reuters)

It’s unavoidable: in today’s interconnected world, news doesn’t stop at the border. What happens in Canada or Pakistan can have an impact on your own neighborhood and daily life. Every Monday morning, Latitude News brings you a headline round-up of local stories from around the country that drive that point home.

You can’t swing a dead catfish without hitting a live lobster these days: thanks to warmer ocean waters, the population of the tasty crustaceans is booming off Maine’s coast, and their market price has hit rock bottom. But what’s good for consumers isn’t always good for fishermen. In New Brunswick, Canada, unionized fishermen blockaded processing plants from accepting deliveries of Maine lobster, which they blame for driving down prices and eating into their profit margin. Now, Canadian lobstermen have reached a deal with the plants that will see them paid $3.50 for each lobster, a dollar more than Mainers receive. (Portland Press Herald)

Members of a Sikh temple outside New Haven, Connecticut held a candlelight vigil for their slain co-religionists in Wisconsin. Sikh congregations across the county are mourning the murder of six Sikhs by a white supremacist on August 5th. Adherents of Sikhism, born in the Punjab region of India, say they have felt at risk since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2011. “We believe the shooting in Wisconsin was mistaken identity because of our turbans,” explains the founder of the Sikh temple in Hamden, Connecticut. “It’s very easy to confuse us with other faiths.” (New Haven Register)

The Obama Administration’s new immigration policy is changing the lives of young illegal immigrants. In Houston, Raul Carillo, Jr. will finally be able to give up his construction job and seek higher-paying work. Because of the new law, Carillo, a Ph.D. student whose Mexican parents sneaked him across the border at the age of two, can now legally obtain a work permit. Carillo says watching Obama announce the decision was a life-changing moment. Illegal immigrants under 30 who attend or have graduated from school, or served in the military, are now eligible for a deportation reprieve, as long they came to this country before the age of sixteen. Latino leaders had previously criticized the president for failing to shepherd comprehensive immigration reform through Congress. (Houston Chronicle)

A new Spanish-language television network begins broadcasting in Texas today. Los Angeles based MundoFOX is a joint venture between Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and RCN, a Colombian media conglomerate. The network hopes to attract the U.S.’s fast-growing Hispanic population with Latin American staples like telenovelas and soccer. But it also plans to maintain cross-over appeal. “It’s an American network, just broadcasting a lot of programming in the Spanish language,” explains a producer at a Texas-based affiliate that will show the new channel. MundoFOX also debuts today in most major television markets across the country. (Corpus Christi Caller-Times)